Issue #462

BAJC hosts antiques-appraisal day

Brattleboro Area Jewish Community will hold its fourth annual Antiques & Collectibles Appraisal Day (like a mini-version of “The Antiques Roadshow") on Sunday, June 10, from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m., at 118 Elliot Street in Brattleboro.

Six appraisers, specialists in their fields, will be present to evaluate and assess antiques and collectibles such as books, sterling silver, art glass, objets d'art, china, oriental rugs (up to 6 feet by 9 feet), pottery, fine art, signed prints, musical instruments, records and entertainment memorabilia, jewelry, paper goods, ephemera including postcards & documents, photographs, furniture, toys and dolls, Asian items, metalware, clocks, barometers, watches, coins, tchotchkes, much more.

Firearms, knives, ammunition, or other weaponry, and rugs larger than 6-by-9 or bulky furniture cannot be accepted. The appraisers are Richard Michelman, Kit Barry, Charles Suss, Walter Tofel, Larry Simons, and Stephan Brandstatter.

All the appraisers are knowledgeable in their respective fields and will offer an accurate valuation of heirlooms and personal keepsakes based on current trends and market value. Come to 118 Elliot St. any time between 1:30 and 5:30 p.m.; there is no admission charge.

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For the win

Colonels reach baseball, girls’ lacrosse semis; BF sweeps state track meet

It was a busy first week for the local teams in the Vermont high school postseason, but by the time the dust settled on June 2, the Bellows Falls boys' and girls' track & field teams swept the Division III state meet and the Brattleboro baseball and girls' lacrosse...

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BF galleries join forces for ‘The Arts of Resistance’

On Friday, June 15, from 5 to 10 p.m., join local visual, musical, and lyrical artists to celebrate where “creative meets political” in a community art event, “The Arts of Resistance.” The events open during the Bellows Falls 3rd Friday festivities with art work and performances at Project Space...

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Contra dance with BMC Celtic classes’ ‘Mega Band’ set for June 10

Caller Adina Gordon is set to team up with the Brattleboro Music Center's Celtic “mega band” for an event that is the culmination of the BMC Celtic classes' year of work and a highlight of the center's traditional music program. All classes will combine to perform together for a year-end contra dance. In an area rich in dance music, organizers say this dance event stands out, with a band of 30 fiddles, mandolins, flutes, and guitars. The dance is set...

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Around the Towns

Joan Rater presents 'Transforming My Family' at Next Stage PUTNEY - Next Stage Arts Project, 15 Kimball Hill, presents speaker Joan Rater on Thursday, June 7, at 7 p.m. Admission is by donation ($10 suggested) at the door. “Transforming My Family” is the television writer's frank and humorous talk about having a transgender son and her family's journey to “understanding, acceptance and, ultimately, a kind of grace that made them all closer and stronger,” organizers write. A writer and show...

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Milestones

College news • Luke Darling of South Newfane graduated with a B.S. in sustainable product design and innovation from Keene State College in May. • Emily B. Cowles, a history major from South Londonderry, was awarded a bachelor of arts degree from St. Lawrence University during Commencement ceremonies held on May 20 in Canton, N.Y. • The following area students were awarded bachelor's degrees during the University of Vermont's 217th commencement ceremonies: Kathryn Annis of Dummerston, Maeve Burke of Brattleboro,

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FOMAG presents supper and songs at ‘A Cappella à la Carte’

Friends of Music at Guilford presents its 52nd season finale on Friday, June 8, an annual three-part event dubbed “A Cappella à la Carte.” Set at two neighboring churches in the Algiers village of Guilford, the evening includes a short meeting, a potluck picnic, and a 7:30 p.m. concert of vocal music. Each optional segment is open to the general public; admission to the concert is by donation. Beginning at 6 p.m. in Christ Church, at the corner of Melendy...

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Putney briefs

Selectboard signs Rescue Inc. contract PUTNEY - The Selectboard unanimously approved the Fiscal Year 2019 contract with Rescue Inc. at their May 23 regular meeting. Town Manager Karen Astley noted the Brattleboro-based medical emergency service requested a 3 percent increase over last year's assessment, bringing the FY19 total to $62,983.62 or $23.31 per resident. The town will pay the assessment in 12 installments. Selectboard member Laura Chapman asked how often Rescue Inc. comes to town. She said her query was...

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BMC showcases student ensembles with annual concert

The Brattleboro Music Center showcases student ensembles with the annual Spring Student Orchestras Concert. The free event is scheduled for Tuesday, June 12, at 7 p.m., at the BMC, 72 Blanche Moyse Way. The concert represents a finale for the year and will include all levels of student ensembles, including the Tigers Ensemble, the Music in the School beginner and intermediate year programs, the Youth String Ensemble and adult student ensembles, as well as the Brattleboro Area Middle School Strings...

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Seth Glier and Matt Nakoa to perform at Next Stage

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present contemporary folk and pop singer/songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Seth Glier and Matt Nakoa at Next Stage on Friday, June 8, at 7:30 p.m. A singer, songwriter, pianist, guitarist, producer, and Grammy nominee, Glier is renowned for his “fearless vocal delivery, musical exuberance, and seasoned songwriting beyond his years,” according to a news release. Averaging over 150 live performances annually, Glier has gone from opening act to headlining his own shows and playing major...

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All Souls film series continues with ‘13TH’

All Souls Church (Unitarian Universalist) will continue its ongoing film series “Looking Inward at White Power and Privilege” with a screening of the Academy Award-nominated film 13TH on Sunday, June 10, at noon, preceded at 11:30 by a simple lunch to which all are invited. New York Times film critic Manohla Dargas said of this 2016 film that it is ”as timely as the latest Black Lives Matter protest.” “Powerful, infuriating and at times overwhelming, Ava DuVernay's documentary 13TH will...

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How much is enough?

Here's an extraordinary fact: Vermont's public school students benefit from a lower ratio of full-time faculty and staff to students than that of the median independent (private) school. The National Association of Independent Schools' 2015-16 annual survey of 1,438 day school members reveals a median student to full time faculty and staff ratio of 5.1 to 1. In Vermont's public schools, that number is 4 to 1. As a product of public schools, I'm proud of the substantial investment that...

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Scott's education funding policies: a smokescreen

When it comes to protecting our democracy, what could be more important than educated citizen voters? Can our country's way of life survive without an informed and engaged electorate? To this end, we created public schools. Sadly, our nonpartisan neglect of public education has produced many voters who think the Supreme Court and Congress “work for” the president. With tribal cable TV news, unfiltered social media, and alternative facts the stakes are high. And there is a disturbing trend toward...

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A community-based approach to the opioid crisis

Greater Falls Connections, northeast Windham County's substance-abuse prevention organization, recently held a community forum called “Bringing Hope Home.” This meeting, which focused on “the immediate response to opioid addiction, stories of recovery, and examples of restorative justice,” was one in a series the group has presented in the past few years, according to the news release. Held at the Rockingham Free Public Library, the event brought in approximately 50 attendees. Representatives from Greater Falls Connections were joined by staff members...

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The noise and the hurry

Defending in an editor's note your reporter's assertion that the Elliot Street high rise is not technically downtown must have been a notion that occurred with the sixth cup of coffee and five minutes before going to press. A factual correction by “sources,” no less. Technically, the reporter wrote “downtown.” The official zoning map indicates an Urban Center. The high rise is well within that. There is no official downtown as such. There is, however, a smaller overlay called the...

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Towns to fight racism with film

The Windham County town of Jamaica and village of West Townshend are neighbors on the map - and, increasingly, in the fight against racism. The Jamaica Community Arts Council held a “Reading Frederick Douglass” program last summer that drew 50 people. West Townshend's Community Project, for its part, reports equally strong attendance at its annual winter Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance. This January the two communities came together to co-sponsor a King event. And this Sunday, June 10, they'll...

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Bike rider was all but invisible

On Wednesday, May 30, at about 2 p.m., I was driving east on Route 121 between Saxtons River and Athens when I saw a strange object approaching in the oncoming lane. Once I was close enough - a couple hundred yards - I eventually recognized that it was a hand-powered recumbent bicycle. The rider was almost completely flat, and very low to the ground. I doubt any object on the bike or rider was more than about 18 inches off...

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Slow Living Summit targets societal division

Charles Eisenstein can tell you about his environmentalist friend who insists the one and only solution to climate change - barring any thought or talk of all other suggestions - is a carbon tax. “There's something in me,” he says, “that knows that can't be right.” Eisenstein, author of four books on ecology and economics, doesn't doubt the science. But in a polarized world, he questions society's increasing tendency to stake out uncompromising positions. “We will not have a healthy...

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Dummerston briefs

Town applies for Village Sanitation Pilot StudyDUMMERSTON - A group of 11 West Dummerston residents living on or near West Street recently submitted their application to participate in the Village Sanitation Pilot Study. On May 23, the Selectboard unanimously voted to support the residents' application. The study, a collaboration between the Windham Regional Commission and the Rich Earth Institute, will assess the conditions of each household's septic system and drinking water in a village, neighborhood, or cluster, and explore options...

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Everybody’s got a story...

This town has stories to tell. Once a month, beginning June 13 at 7 p.m., Next Stage Arts will present a new storytelling series, Fables, hosted by local radio personality Peter “Fish” Case. On each second Wednesday, a variety of guest storytellers will take the stage to recount tales that are amusing, moving, exciting, or all of these combined. Each Fable session will highlight four 15-minute stories and feature different themes. Admission is by donation. Fables will launch the Next...

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After 45 years, Meeting House School closes

The Board of Trustees at the Meeting House School is throwing a party on June 9 to celebrate the end of another successful year at the preschool. This gathering will be its last, because on June 7, after 45 years of operations, the Meeting House School is closing for good. Lauren MacArthur, co-president of the school's Board of Trustees, explained why: “We're closing because a public pre-kindergarten is starting at Marlboro's elementary school.” Beginning in September, The Marlboro School, a...

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Eugene Uman’s Convergence Project to perform at VJC

The Vermont Jazz Center presents Eugene Uman's Convergence Project on Saturday, June 9, at 8 p.m. Uman, the director of the VJC, uses the Convergence Project as a vehicle to present his original compositions and music that has influenced him. It includes Wanda Houston, vocals; Michael Zsoldos, saxophones; Jeff Galindo, trombone; Uman, piano; David Picchi, bass (electric and acoustic); and Jon Fisher on drums. There will also be surprise musical guests performing at this event. After many musically formative years...

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Insisting upon itself

The meek may inherit the earth, but it is the patient who will see the glory of the wines of Piedmont. Set into the Langhe foothills of northwestern Italy, the treasures of this region, Barolo and Barbaresco, are guarded by the glittering watchtowers of the alps and by another gatekeeper: time. Nebbiolo is a reticent grape, with an unusually long growing season, and its suppleness and generosity emerge only gradually. Uncorked too soon, the wines it makes will show a...

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Preserves without preservation

Your grandmother probably stood over a hot stove for hours stirring jams and canning them in large water baths, in a house full of steam and lovely aromas. She was likely proud of her labors but had an aching back as well! I still love the ritual of making a batch of jam, canning it, and tucking it away for later in the year. There is something satisfying about that lovely row of jewels lined up in the pantry. However,

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Our week-long sunny sandwich contains a showery Sunday filling

Good day to you, denizens of the verdant lands of Windham County! The upcoming week is looking pretty good in terms of fair and pleasant weather, with a slight warming trend expected. With respect to the U.S. Drought Monitor, we're experiencing some dry conditions in the town of Vernon as well as neighboring Cheshire County in southwest New Hampshire. The best chance for rain to help mitigate such aridity would be Saturday evening into the first half of Sunday, when...

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Building a musical career, one gig at a time

Remember that old vaudeville joke: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice.” You might similarly ask: “How does a freelance classical musician living in Southern Vermont manage a successful regional career?” The answer: Lots of hard work. For a good example, look no further than Kathy Andrew. A Brattleboro resident since 1989, Andrew moved here to study under Blanche Moyse - and has since become attached to the area. She teaches at the Brattleboro Music Center and is active...

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We did not get paid to move here

My Facebook feed has been lit up with friends posting links to articles about how we are going to pay people $10,000 to move to Vermont. It has been great fun. I have a limited number of friends, by design, and they are scattered all across the country. Many, like me, just sort of picked up and moved for no good reason when they were young. All are having a great time - at my expense, one might say. My...

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Public Utility Commission fines Soveren Solar for Guilford project

Soveren Solar recently found itself in hot water with the Public Utility Commission over its actions relating to the construction of a 500-kW solar array. In late March, the Commission found that the Dummerston-based solar company was in violation of Certificate of Public Good requirements for the project, which sits on a parcel of land between Kirchheimer Drive and Guilford Center Road. Soveren must pay the Commission a civil penalty of $5,000. What could affect the solar array's future is...

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Out on the street

Three years ago, Dave Cohen convinced me to get an electric-assist installed on my bicycle. I missed riding my bike, but Brattleboro's steep terrain was much too challenging for this sedentary reporter. Cohen, founder and director of VBike, a nonprofit group that works toward “shifting the bike and bike culture in Vermont towards a far more inclusive, fun, and transportation-oriented future,” let me test-ride an e-assist bicycle. Through the VBike program, Cohen has a fleet of e-bikes - some for...

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The Scott paradox

These are sad, even poignant, days for people who pay attention to and care about state government in Vermont. Sad, because Phil Scott, a very popular new governor, is making a total hash of the management of the state's finances; poignant, because that fact contrasts so strikingly with his stand on gun control, one of the most courageous political decisions I have ever seen. When it became clear how close Vermonters had come to a mass school shooting earlier this...

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Strawberry season!

In early June, we had tons of the tiny, sweet native strawberries along our dirt road in Spofford, N.H., where I grew up. Picking them was a lot of work for just a little harvest each day when they ripened, but oh, were they worth it. Few of them made it home. I still pick strawberries, but at a local farm and not so much in the wild. I want enough to make my annual batch of jam, as well...

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The flavors of India

India is a diverse, expansive country, broadly divided into north and south. But as there are many states, each with regional specialties and endless micro-specialties, making generalizations about the food is next to impossible. As Indian food authority Madhur Jaffrey put it, “Every time you go into a little crevice of India, you find a new cuisine.” That said, there are a few key differences between North Indian and South Indian cooking. Many Americans consider Indian food North Indian food...

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